Deal Street

In the late fifties, the city was planning to build the Pulaski Expressway from the Betsy Ross Bridge to Roosevelt Boulevard. Someone on Wikimapia actually mapped out it’s path. Awesome idea, except if you lived on Deal Street. That’s because the city was going to eminent domain your house so the highway could go there. Neighborhood backlash(presumably from Frankfordites) stopped the project, but not until years of debate took place. And in that kind of situation you really don’t want the fate of your house up in the air for a couple decades. You can’t sell it because no one wants to buy a house that’s going to be seized. And you can’t move because the city hasn’t given you any money for taking it yet. So what do you do? You let your house rot. See those houses down the street next to that first car? They’re wrapped in a metal chain mail that I’m guessing is keeping them from falling over and spilling in into the streets. So what’s going to save Deal Street? It’s the Frankford Greenway Project. Here’s the nitty gritty.

2 Commentson "Deal Street"

It’s already started with the Twins at Powder Mill. They sit at the edge of the Frankford Creek as it enters Frankford.

I think we’ll see this project complete very slowly. Along with transit oriented development and what appears to be a paradigm shift in this country’s values regarding the role of cities and energy, the Frankford Creek is a huge asset to Frankford. But you have to remember, there are still a ton of mills along the Frankford Creek. And they have to have a purpose other than selling hub caps and holding auto repair shops.

If you’re looking out for this project, or just in general the revitalization of Frankford, the next thing you should be looking at is what happens with the land from that burned down factory on Adams Ave right next to the creek. I think any use of that land, most likely new housing, would be an indication that Frankford is getting better.